Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support business investment in (a) Gloucester constituency and (b) the South West.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) promotes and supports investment opportunities across all of the UK. In Gloucester, DBT has a strong relationship with the County Council and proactively promotes the counties sector strengths, particularly in areas such as Technology and Cyber Security, AgriTech and Advanced Manufacturing. This includes highlighting key developments like The Forum in Gloucester City Centre.

DBT recognises the strength of opportunity across the South West region for investors, both in the sectors listed above but also in Floating Offshore Wind, Critical Minerals, Nuclear, Quantum and AI. In addition, Tata’s announcement earlier this year to build a gigafactory in Somerset is expected to create further opportunities for inward investors in the region.